The present invent ion relates to a structure of a dust blower for removing dust from a circular knitting machine during the knitting operation of the machine.
Various knitting machines have been developed for knitting a variety of fabrics. During the knitting operation of a knitting machine, more particularly a circular knitting machine, dust and fluff must be removed from the machine so that the machine can keep operating smoothly. There are two known ways to remove dust and fluff from a circular knitting machine. One way is to use a dust collecting system to collect dust and fluff from the annular loop-forming zone of the circular knitting machine. For example, DUST-COLLECTING SYSTEM of German Pat. No. 34,664 and DUST-COLLECTING SYSTEM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE of U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,195 commonly use a suction channel connected to a suction source for sucking up dust and fluff from the annular loop-forming zone. The other way is to use a dust blower means to blow dust and fluff away from the annular loop-forming zone of the circular knitting machine, for example, by installing a plurality of blower fans mounted on the center of the circular knitting machine and controlled by a constant speed motor to blow radially dust and fluff away from the annular loop-forming zone of the circular knitting machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,136, issued to the present inventor, discloses a dust blower for circular knitting machines, having a plurality of electric fans, with each being mounted on an arm adjustably mounted around a rotatable frame which is driven by a driving device independent of the electric fans, with the driving device being an electric motor or a rotating member of the circular knitting machine with which the dust blower is used.
The aforesaid dust collecting and blowing systems are still not satisfactory in function because they cannot prohibit dust and fluff from entering the motor. If fluff enters the motor during the operation of the motor, it will be burned, causing the motor to be damaged.